


Guardian Angel

by Nyrandrea, themarginalartist



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-12-23 05:39:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyrandrea/pseuds/Nyrandrea, https://archiveofourown.org/users/themarginalartist/pseuds/themarginalartist
Summary: Hey there! nyrandrea and themarginalartist here!This story is inspired by @thelostmoongazer‘s Mob Boss Bendy AU and more specifically, @the-vampire-inside-me‘s very own Abel the Angel!Enjoy!





	1. The Youngest

He should have helped those kids.

Street lamps lit up the way as he left Elymas’s bar, the noise of the drunks shouting faded as he put distance between himself and them. Now it was quiet. Now there was nothing left to distract him. He was alone with his thoughts.

_He should have helped those kids._

Abel paused and leaned against the side of a building. He rustled in his hammerspace, pulling out a pack of cigars, he pulled one out and held it in his teeth, putting the packet back in and swapping it for a lighter. With a well practiced flick, the cigar was lit and smoke billowed out in a lazy cloud out into the night. He dropped the lighter back into the hammerspace and pushed himself off the building, continuing on his well-worn route back to his flat.

_**He should have helped those kids.** _

The toon growled softly to himself and shook his head. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this guilt eating away at him. Why was he guilty? He’d told them what he would have told any human. To get out. He did the right thing.

Didn’t he?

* * *

It was early afternoon. He’d just finished a quick shopping trip at the market, bag of groceries in one hand and cigar held loosely in the other. He’d been minding his own business well enough, until a loud barking sound suddenly caught his attention.

Up ahead there was a large dog sniffing the ground near an alley.

_‘Probably just looking for scraps.’_   He mentally shrugged, continuing on his way.

However, as he got closer, he picked up the faint sound of what appeared to be a whimper. He noticed that the dog was also starting to get more aggressive as it lunged and snarled at whatever was in the alley, it’s jaws dripping with foam and drool. His eyes narrowed slightly, there must have been someone in there.

“Hey!” He shouted, getting the dog’s attention. “Get outta there, ya mutt!”

The dog bared it’s fangs and growled lowly, before it lowered itself to the ground in a threatening pose. Abel stopped and dropped his cigar to the ground, using his foot to lightly stamp it out, before slowly reaching behind him. They locked eyes for a split second before the creature charged towards him, barking and howling viciously, the toon simply smirked back before pulling out his pistol and fired off a warning shot.

The bullet bounced off the cobblestone, right in front of the dog’s path, making it grind to a halt. The loud bang that echoed from the pistol made the canine’s ears fold back and flatten against its head as it whined and backed off.

“Tch!” Abel lowered his gun welding hand and sneered at the hound. “Not so tough now, huh? Now get lost before I decide to put the next bullet into yer head.” He opened up his wings in an intimidating manner and flapped them loudly to scare off the dog for good. It seemed to work as the mongrel scrambled away, whimpering as it ran off down the street.

“Damn mutt…” The angel muttered under his breath.

A loud clanging from the alley suddenly caught his attention, he raised his gun towards the source of the sound.

“Don’t make any sudden movements, pal. Come out with your hands up, and don’t get any funny ideas either.” Silence followed. The toon grimaced slightly and cocked the handle of his gun as a warning sign.

“I said come out.” He said in a more threatening tone.

There was a rustling from behind a few of the cans near the back of the alley. He swung to face them head on, whoever was behind there had better make their appearance soon, his patience was already wearing extremely thin.

There was another shuffling noise followed by another period of silence.

Just as he was about to give the final warning, a tiny hand poked out and held onto the side of the metal can. A second passed before a sliver of a tiny face appeared. Before he could really process what he was seeing, the face and hand quickly ducked back behind the cans, back out of sight.

His mind was going a mile a minute, that was a kid, an actual human kid. He quickly put his gun back away into his hammerspace. What on earth was a human kid doing in Toon town? The child was probably no older than four or five given just how tiny they were. But… what would cause a child to come here?

“Hey kid, it’s alright I’m not gonna hurt ya.” He tried to coax with the gentlest voice he could muster. There was silence again for another few seconds, before the little hand and face came back into view, this time the human child moved out a bit further from the cans, finally giving him a full view.

His heart broke a little at the sight.

The kid, or little girl to be more specific, was absolutely filthy. Her faded pink dress was tattered and had numerous shoddily sewn on patches. Her reddish brown hair was in frazzled braids with bangs that covered her eyes. And even though he couldn’t quite see the eyes clearly enough, he knew that by the way her head was tilted, that she was staring at the loaf of bread in his bag.

“Why don’t you come over-” He took a step forward as he tried to talk to her again, only to be cut off completely by the little girl as she quickly ducked behind the cans again. He stopped in his tracks and frowned slightly.

_‘Huh? Why’s the girl freaking out like that?’_  He internally questioned himself.

He decided to try again, except this time, with a slight change of plans. He swept aside the debris in the alley opposite of the cans with one of his large wings, and settled himself down. He crossed his legs and put the bag of groceries to the side, and draped his wings around his body.

From the corner of his eye he saw the girl had poked her head out again and was watching him. Smiling slightly, he pulled out the loaf of bread and ripped off a hunk. He sat there, quietly waiting, making sure to not frighten the kid off again.

Eventually, after nearly a minute had passed, the little girl took a tiny cautious step out from behind the can. He looked up at her, causing her to freeze before running behind the cans again.

_‘What on earth happened to this kid if she gets scared if I even look at her?’_  He sympathetically thought.

A sigh escaped his lips, he was just going to have to be patient with her. So he stayed seated, and waited again.

This time he didn’t have to wait that long before she came back out from behind the cans again, and this time Abel kept his focus on the ground. He heard the cautious tiptoe of bare feet on the cold cement, before they finally came into view, her tiny toes were coated in dirt and other grime, she stopped about a foot away from him. He slowly looked up, making sure to keep his movements calm and quiet.

Red rust coloured bangs coated her eyes but he knew that she was watching him very carefully, looking him over to make sure that he was going to do anything. He slowly but smoothly raised his gloved hand with the hunk of bread out in front of himself, opening his palm up so the bread rested in it.

A beat passed.

The little girl quickly snatched the bread without a word and darted back behind the cans, braids flying out behind her as she ran. He sat there quietly as he watched her go, letting his arm rest on his leg again. A few seconds passed before she poked her head back out, watching him, or more likely, the rest of the bread that he had.

He quietly chuckled to himself and ripped another hunk of bread off, and as he did, the girl gently tiptoed back towards him, a little more quickly this time. The child halted about a foot away again, and stared hungrily at the hunk of bread that was in his open palm. Quickly, she snatched it up again, however this time, she didn’t run behind the cans. She did back up however, putting an extra foot of space between them. The little girl watched him for a moment, before making quick work of the bread, when she finished she went back to cautiously watching him, staying still in her place.

It took him a moment before he realized that she was looking to get some more bread. He reached towards the loaf and ripped off yet another chunk, a quarter of the loaf was now gone, not that it bothered him. He prepared to hold his hand out again when he felt a small hand run delicately along his right wing, he looked up to find the girl gently brushing her hand over the feathers, a curiously small smile tugging at her lips.

“You want another piece or are you gonna play with my feathers kid?” He amusedly asked, quietly chuckling. She froze instantly at the sound of his voice and quickly pulled her hand back, stepping away from his wing with her head down. Abel’s eyes widened slightly as he realised that he was about to lose the girl’s trust, and quickly tried to rectify himself.

“Hey, hey…it’s alright kid, it’s all right, here.” He coaxed as he held out the bread once again, “Sorry for startling you.” He apologised with a sympathetic smile.

The girl stopped for a moment, before lifting her head back up to glance at him, he slowly nodded his head and smiled again, still holding the bread out.

“It’s ok. I won’t hurt you, I promise.” The angel said in a soft voice.

This seemed to convince her as she made her way back over, and took the bread from him again, this time in a less frantic manner. She nibbled on the piece of food instead of completely devouring it right away, and stayed exactly where she was this time. She seemed to be a little more comfortable, although she was still very clearly on edge.

As he got a closer look at her, he could finally see the full extent of her poor condition. Her dress was ripped and shredded, although there seemed to be an attempt at keeping the dress in a somewhat fixed state, with the sewn patches and whatnot. Her bare arms and legs were smeared with dirt, but there were other marks there as well. The angel narrowed his eyes slightly as he noticed that there were small cuts, bruises and grazes dotted about her limbs.

Her reddish brown, double braided hair was also an absolute utter mess. Strands of hair wildly poked out at various angles, it was so frazzled and tangled, like it hadn’t been washed or brushed for weeks.

 Her eyes were covered with the messy strands of hair as well, he was so tempted to just brush it to the side with his hand so that he was actually able to see her eyes, but he sure as Hell didn’t want to scare her off again with any sudden movements, not after how long it took just to get her over here.

He also noticed a small silver pendant wrapped loosely around her neck, it didn’t look too valuable, it was probably just a sentimental trinket. From her parents perhaps?

But…where were they then? She looked as though she was completely on her own. Maybe they were…

_‘Damn…’_  Abel thought as he frowned.  _‘The Hell happened to this poor girl…?’_

He knew all too well that it was probably humans that did this. They could be very cruel, especially to their own kind, he had learned that the hard way. It absolutely sickened him to his core…

The toon was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts however as he heard a rustling sound coming from beside him, and looked down to see that the little girl was rummaging through the groceries bag with a curious look on her face. He smiled at the sight, before shaking his head slightly.

As endearing as she was, she had to leave town.

The other toons, like him, were extremely wary of humans, and for good reason. He understood that she was just a child and heck, he loved being around children, it was the one part of his previous job that he had actually liked. But he knew that if she stayed, it was going to make the other folk in the town very uncomfortable.

Abel frowned sadly as she pulled out an apple from the bag and sniffed at it curiously, before looking back up at him longingly, as if silently asking him for permission.

“Sure thing. Go ahead, kid.” The toon said with a small smile.

Her face instantly lit up, and she bit down on the apple in an enthusiastic manner. He simply watched her as she munched into the fruit, his brow furrowing as his thoughts and morals internally clashed against each other.

_‘Still…I can’t exactly just force her out, that would be too cruel. But…she can’t stay…’_  He thought to himself. After several minutes of mulling, he finally came to a decision.

Sighing, he slowly raised a gloved hand and rested it upon her small head, she instantly tensed up, but slowly eased into his touch as he gently stroked her tangled hair.

“I’m sorry, kid, but…” Abel paused for a moment, looking down slightly before continuing, “You can’t stay here, you’re gonna have to leave.” This made the little girl tilt her head to the side slightly, as if she was confused by his statement. The angel could feel his emotions start to crumble again, he was going to have to end this meeting quickly before he changed his mind.

“Here.” He said, as he took the groceries bag and handed it to her. “Keep the apple and take this as well, it ain’t much but it’ll help keep you fed for a little while.” He gave her a small smile before his expression turned a little more stern. “Whatever way you used to get in here, use it to get out. There’s people out there that can help you, ok?”

With that, he gave her one last small pat before rising to his feet, and turned to walk away.

But a small tug on his left wing instantly stopped Abel in his tracks again. Sighing, he looked back down with a solemn expression, as the little girl gripped onto the bottom of his wing with her small hand, her other arm clutching the bag of supplies.

“I’m really sorry but…” His wing gently pulled itself away from her grip. “I can’t help you.”

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he walked away and never turned back to even look at her.

He couldn’t bear to.

* * *

He should have helped her. Damn it, he should have  _helped_  her.

Abel rubbed the back of his neck and puffed out another cloud of smoke from his cigar, the wisps of the fumes floated away and vaporised into the cold but gentle breeze of wind.

His eyes narrowed.

Then there were the other two.


	2. The Middle

Abel could feel the effects of the alcohol start to take over, his head felt very light, and his thoughts were starting to swirl against each other, making him feel pretty nauseous. **  
**

The toon put a hand to his head as he kept walking down the cold, dark and empty street, the only light source that guided him towards his destination were the dimly lit, flickering street lamps. 

He puffed out another cloud of smoke from his worn out cigar, and watched the wisps float away into the night air. He smirked slightly, smoking was the only thing that seemed to calm him down these days.

However, the cigar still couldn’t help him get that mental image of the little human girl out of his mind, the tattered light pink dress, the frazzled reddish brown braids, the little silver locket…

“God damn it…” He bitterly muttered under his breath. The distant sound of slurred shouting barely caught his attention, but it managed to distract him for a small moment.

_‘Another drunken brawl…’_  He lazily thought to himself. _‘Figures.’_  The angel didn’t even stop to investigate, he honestly couldn’t even be bothered, he just wanted to get home.

As Abel continued down the path, his mind wandered back to her again.

_‘Oh come on…!’_  He scolded to himself.  _‘She had to go, they all had to go, I did the right thing!’_

_‘I did the right thing…’_

The mental image of the little girl changed into one of a little boy.

_‘Damn it…’_

* * *

It was late afternoon, Abel was passing through the shopping district on his way to go see Elymas. He was lost in his thoughts, preparing for the next heist he was going to pull, a new shipment of ink was due in a few days, and it was going to get him a rather fat stack of cash if everything went as planned. Which it wasn’t likely that it wouldn’t. He was good at what he did,  a small smirk tugged at his lips.

Maybe a little too good.

As he walked down the district, he couldn’t help but have a little glance around the place, many of the shops had outdoor displays out. Coats, dresses, tops, hats, and many other articles of clothing were out on public display. He barely paid them any mind, content to continue on his path, until something caught the corner of his eye, that was when he saw him. A little boy, of African descent, sneaking around the clothing racks.

Abel couldn’t help but blink in surprise.

_‘What the hell? Another kid?’_  He quickly glanced around, it appeared as if nobody else had noticed the child yet.

He slowed down, watching the boy’s movements carefully from behind, wondering what the heck the kid was after, given he had bypassed the boy’s clothes from a nearby rack. Abel quietly moved around to the other side of the racks, keeping far enough behind the kid so that he wouldn’t notice him.

_‘Looks as though the kid needs some new clothes badly, but what on earth is he looking for?’_  The angel internally questioned himself.

The back of the kid’s navy blue t-shirt looked to be nearly shredded, his khaki colored shorts were completely coated in dirt and had frayed hems, and his legs and arms were coated in faded and frayed bandages. A turn of the boy’s head revealed another one plastered to the bridge of his nose. His dark brown, curly hair was also pretty mangled and messy, just like the little girl’s that he had previously met about a week ago.

Abel kept observing the little boy closely as he looked around from the rack he was near, and when the boy thought the coast was clear, he returned his focus to the rack. It was filled with small dresses, definitely not what the kid needed. A light clicking noise suddenly caught Abel’s attention, he looked up and noticed a toon nearby adjusting the racks, who he assumed was the shopkeeper, but it seemed as though the kid was completely oblivious as to what was about to happen.

Abel reacted quickly, silently coming up from behind the boy and let his wings draw around them as he snatched the kid up and pulled him into the back of a nearby alley. The child struggled hard against his grip, but to no avail as Abel held on tight enough to make sure the boy wouldn’t get away just yet.

“What the Hell do you think you’re doing, kid?” Abel questioned in a quiet but stern tone,  but he didn’t get an answer as the little boy simply kept struggling against him. The toon sighed and looked around to make sure nobody was nearby, before unfolding his wings and setting the child down.

The kid tried to take the opportunity to escape, but Abel kept a firm grasp on his thin wrist to prevent him from getting any further, resulting in a panicked response from the young one as he grabbed and tried to pull the gloved hand off.

“P-please mister…” The boy muttered with a cracked voice. “I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

“Yeah, but you were about to, weren’t ya? You shouldn’t steal, kid. It ain’t…” He trailed off.

The angel’s poker face instantly melted into one of sympathy as the child looked up at him with wide eyes, and continued to struggle against him, looking absolutely petrified. The boy started to claw at Abel’s hand in a frenzied manner, though it hardly did much of anything, he was pretty small and very weak, the poor thing didn’t stand a chance.

_‘Ah geez…’_  The toon inwardly cringed as the boy kept trying to attack him.  _‘Should probably try and calm the poor kid down.’_

He loosened his grip and knelt down to get on the little boy’s level, before placing both hands gently on the child’s scrawny shoulders. The poor thing looked like he needed a decent meal, which made Abel wonder, where were these children coming from? There was that girl from the week before, and now this.

_‘Huh…it is pretty weird.’_  He inwardly shrugged.  _‘Eh, it’s probably just coincidence.’_

The toon was snapped out of his thoughts however, as he felt a sudden trembling against his hands, and glanced down to the kid, he frowned at what he saw. The little boy looked as though he was on the brink of tears.

“Hey, there’s no need for that now.” He tried to coax with a smile. “Yer fine, I ain’t gonna hurt ya.” This seemed to ease the human slightly, as he rubbed his eyes with his small hands and shuffled slightly.

“You’re…you’re not?” The little boy asked timidly. Abel smirked in a friendly manner and lifted a hand to lightly ruffle his curly, tangled hair but stopped when he noticed that the kid flinched, his emerald eyes widening in fear slightly. So he simply lowered his hand again to rest it on the child’s shoulder.

“Nah. ‘Course not.” The angel replied with a reassuring smile, before frowning slightly. “But ya can’t steal from that shop, alright? Or any other shop for that matter, it ain’t right. You’re lucky I caught you instead of another toon.” This earned a curious look from the kid.

“What…What do you mean, mister?” This made Abel cringe slightly, he wasn’t really sure how to explain the fact that toons were wary of humans for convoluted reasons to a kid that looked no older than six.

“Look kid, you can’t exactly stick around in this town, the folks here, they uh, don’t really take too well to your kind.” He tried to explain in the simplest way possible.

The child only responded by casting his eyes down to the ground.

“So…it’s just like those other guys…” The boy murmured, making Abel raise an eyebrow.

“Other guys?” He questioned, hoping for a more specific answer.

The child nodded his head, his expression still downcast, “Yeah…the grown ups.” The angel frowned as he quickly caught onto what he meant.

_‘Once again, the humans treat their own kind like crap, even the little kids.’_  Abel bitterly thought.  _‘Typical.’_

“Look kid, if you’re looking for something warm then let me get ya a shirt or something, a dress ain’t gonna cut it, they weren’t your size anyway.” Abel said, subtly trying to get the kid to explain himself.

 The boy flicked his eyes to meet Abel’s briefly before looking back down, Abel saw the kid’s lips move but couldn’t hear the quiet, mumbled words. “I didn’t quite catch that kid, what did you say?” He asked with a raised brow.

“Nothing!” Came the all too fast, wide eyed reply, Abel had to fight the rising urge to roll his eyes, he could feel himself starting to get slightly impatient.

_‘Damn, I could really go for a cigar and brandy right about now.’_  But he brushed the thought to the side, now was not the time.

“Kid…” The toon sighed in defeat and rubbed his temples. “Fine, how about this? I get you a coat or something, and then you get outta town.” It was subtle but his eyes caught the little boy flinch at the request, making the angel frown in sympathy once again. “Hey… y’know I’m not trying to be mean kid, but… it’s for your own safety.” Abel sighed, this was the little girl all over again.

_‘Dammit, don’t get attached Abel.’_  He couldn’t afford this, he just couldn’t. He couldn’t be a bleeding heart, the safety of the other toons had to come first. Besides, he also had his reputation to uphold.

He got up from his kneeling position and gestured for the child to stay where he was. “Stay here kid, and I’d stick back here behind the cans and crates if I were you, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Abel straightened up, the small human’s green eyes cautiously tracking his movements. The toon walked towards the front of the alley, listening closely for a moment to make sure the boy wasn’t about to leave the safety of the alley. Once he was absolutely sure, he made his way back towards the shops, and went straight to browsing the shirt racks first.

But as he raked through the shirts, he cringed slightly as he suddenly realised an important point.  _‘Shit, I gotta make this look like it’s for me.’_  He thought as he continued searching, his hands quickly going through the various selections.

_‘While a shirt would be better, I got these big wings, the shirt would have holes and it would completely defeat the damn purpose…’_ He stopped as his eye caught something. _‘Hhmmm…’_

He lifted his head to have a proper look.

_‘Maybe… Yeah, that’ll work.’_  Abel moved from the shirt section and towards the nearby coat rack, and started browsing through the jackets.  _‘Yeah this one should do just fine.’_ He mentally smirked as he looked at his soon to be new purchase.

Abel went into the shop and was soon back out again after the quick transaction, he watched his surroundings carefully to make sure that no one would spot him, before ducking back into the alley. He made his way to the rear, before a light rustling behind the cans and crates alerted him to the child.

“Kid, it’s only me.” He gently coaxed with a smile. There was a moment of silence before a tiny, browned hand poked out, slowly followed by the boy’s face, his emerald eyes wide in a look of confusion and surprise.

“Hey, I got ya something.” Abel said as he started to rustle the bag, the boy stepped out again and stood a little bit away from the angel.

“I… didn’t think you were coming back…” Abel just caught the delicately whispered words and frowned slightly, before he gave a small but confident smirk.

“Hey, come one, ya gotta trust this old angel. I said I was gonna get you something, didn’t I?” This made the little boy blink in mild surprise.

“Y-yeah, you did…but-” The child was cut off as Abel swiftly brought out a medium sized, lightly tanned trenchcoat and smoothly draped it over the small boy’s thin figure. The coat looked pretty large on the kid as it completely covered him while the bottom half dragged along the ground.

“Eh…” Abel crossed his arms and gave the boy a slightly amused look. “It’s pretty big on ya but at least it’ll keep ya warm, besides, you’ll grow into it.” The angel inwardly scolded himself at that last part, he doubted the boy was going to even last that long, not with the poorly condition he was in.

_‘He might last if ya help him.’_  A seething voice of self doubt commented.

The toon shook his head, as much as he wanted to, he just…couldn’t.

He looked back down to see that the little boy was looking over his new piece of clothing with a look of awe in his face, Abel’s brow furrowed.

_‘God…he’s amazed at a damn coat, of all things…’_

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted however, when the child looked up to him with a small smile on his face.

“Geez…mister, this is really cool, thanks a lot…” The boy said with a genuine tone. Abel rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his wings twitched as his thoughts and morals clashed once again.

“…It’s no problem kid, but uh…I’m afraid ya gotta hit the road now.” The angel quickly said as he turned to walk away, before continuing,  “However the hell you got in, use it to get back out, understand?”

“But-”

Abel turned his head quickly and narrowed his eyes. “Ya don’t wanna argue with me, kid.” He said in a calm but threatening tone.

The child’s eyes widened slightly as he took a small step back and silently nodded his head quickly.

“Good. Now beat it.” Abel nonchalantly said as he reached into his hammerspace for a cigar and lighter, his hands trembling slightly while doing so.

“…You were the one she made those drawings for…the angel…” The boy’s quiet voice whispered, Abel’s eyes widened slightly.

“Wait, what did you just-” He quickly turned around, only to find that the child was gone. “…say…?” He trailed off.

A chilly wind ruffled the feathers of his wings as he simply stared into the empty alley.


	3. The Oldest

The yelling was getting louder.

Abel sighed to himself, he really wasn’t in the mood to pass by another bar fight, he just wanted to get home without any problems and crawl into bed. It had been a pretty long evening, between going to the bar and his thoughts, he could feel a headache coming on. He only wanted some peace and quiet, just to become unconscious for a little while.

At least that way he wouldn’t have to deal with these guilty thoughts anymore.

_‘First the little girl, then the little boy…’_  Abel internally sighed.

He could have done more.

He _should_  have done more.

He growled under his breath as he rubbed his temples with one hand,  while the other brought up his nearly finished cigar to his mouth.

_‘But they had to leave, this town ain’t a safe place for ‘em… But that other girl… ‘_  The angel chuckled slightly. _‘She coulda handled herself… But… she needed to get out too.’_  His lips tugged up into a small smirk.

She had been a fighter. She had been quite determined. She had been fierce.

It was just a shame that she was also so young.

* * *

The early evening brought about a chilled breeze, the streets were clearing out, toons with nothing better to do were wandering towards the various bars that were dotted about the town, while others were just heading home. The streets were left empty and silent.

Abel lit up a cigar and slowly wandered down the sidewalk, heading toward Elymas’s bar, as he usually did. Billowing smoke trails from his cigar floated into the air and followed behind him.

It had been a few weeks since he saw the two children, but they were still so fresh on his mind, he just couldn’t bring himself to stop thinking about them. The little silent Latinx girl with the shredded dress and tangled reddish-brown braids, and the African boy with the curly, messy hair, and the various plasters that were dotted about his thin, frail  body. He wish he could have done more but…

“Aw Hell, not this again…” Abel muttered under his breath with a frown, before lightly shaking his head. He didn’t have time for this, not today. He could only hope that they were somehow alright, the angel gazed down bitterly at his cigar.

He sincerely doubted it though.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted however, when something small but rigid struck him on the back of his head, the impact wasn’t particularly powerful but it was pretty painful nonetheless. The attack immediately made him go on the defensive as he whipped out his gun and spun around to face his attacker.

Only to find that there was nobody there.

Abel raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked around the still empty street, all the while keeping his pistol raised. He narrowed his eyes when only silence followed, his teeth clenched around the cigar as he grimaced. Whoever had struck him was still in the area, and he was not in the mood for games.

“Alright, pal.” Abel started. “You better stop playin’ hide n’ seek and come out.” Silence again.

The toon lowered his gun as he scanned the area with a slightly more worried gaze this time, was the little girl here again? That would have explained the silence. His worried gaze turned into an annoyed frown, he thought he had told her to leave…

He lowered his gun as his expression melted into one of worry again. Why hadn’t she come out yet? The last time that he saw her, she seemed to be pretty fond of him, even if it was only for the food, so it couldn’t have been fear that was holding her back. Was she hurt?

Abel holstered his gun and moved to have a good search around the area, only to stop immediately when he nearly tripped up over a small, rounded object. He glanced down and blinked before he reached down and picked it up.

_‘What the Hell…?’_ He mentally pondered as he examined the object.

It was a small rock, probably what was used to hit him. But…where had it come from? Abel furrowed his brows, there was no way it could have been the girl then, she was a timid little thing, she wouldn’t have tried to hurt him. It had to have been someone else.

_‘Although…I’ve been wrong about folk before…’_  The angel bitterly thought.

He nonchalantly dropped the pebble to the ground before he started to thoroughly search around the area, although as the sun was very nearly set, the increasing darkness was making it hard for him to properly see, and the flickering street lamps didn’t exactly help much either.

But that sure as Hell wasn’t going to stop him, he wanted find his attacker and get an explanation, and one way or another, he was going to get it. The toon calmly took a puff from his cigar as he continued his investigation, making sure to look behind every shadowed corner, every trash can and every alley, but to no avail.

He was about to give up his chase when the slightest flicker of movement caught the corner of his eye. His line of vision trailed towards a dark and empty alleyway, the motion was faint, but it was there. Abel smirked slightly.

Bingo.

He slowly and silently stalked towards the alley, raising his gun up again. He stopped at the corner, leaned his back against the brick wall and took a moment to compose himself before going in. He was going to have to be very careful about this, he couldn’t just go in guns blazing like he normally would, not if it actually ended up being the little girl again.

Abel took a breath, and swiftly turned the corner and went into the alley with his gun pointed into the dark, quiet abyss. Once again, nothing happened, not even a twinge of a reaction from anything. But he knew there was someone in here, his instincts were screaming at him to just start shooting, but he managed to calm his nerves.

“Look.” Abel started as he scanned the shadow filled area, looking for any signs of movement. “Whoever you are, show yourself, and I won’t shoot ya, ok?” He tried to reason with them, but to no avail as he only got silence as a reply. The angel’s wings twitched in annoyance.

“C’mon, I ain’t in the mood for this.” He growled under his breath. “My patience is running out, pal.” He said in a louder tone. “Come out.”

The stillness of the alley was really starting to unnerve him, a chilled breeze ruffled his feathers and made him shiver slightly. He lowered his gun and looked around with a more worried expression, maybe the little girl really was here and was just…frightened by his gun or something.

The angel swiftly put it away and called out in a softer voice. “Kid? Are ya here? It’s alright, ya know I ain’t gonna hurt-”

The toon was suddenly cut off however, when a small shape suddenly darted from behind the trash cans and crashed into his side, knocking the wind right out of him. His eyes managed to just catch the glimmer of something silver and sharp, the attacker had a knife on them.

Abel quickly recovered from the sneak attack and swiftly dodged the assailant’s strikes as they tried to slash at him with the small weapon again.

“Tch! Ya sure ya really wanna go up against someone like me, small fry?” Abel joked as he continued to dodge the assaults, the small shadowy figure simply replied by leaping and swiftly slashing at the toon again, this time managing to actually land a hit on his arm.

The angel hissed as the knife cut into his skin, and quickly observed the wound as the attacker retreated back into the alley. The wound was tiny but Abel was more annoyed at the fact that he had even managed to get hit. He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes as the figure charged at him once more.

“Alright you little bastard…don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” He muttered with a scowl.

Once the attacker got close enough he stretched out both of his enormous wings and smirked. The small figure grinded to a halt and let out a small gasp, the darkness still managed to hide their expression, but he could tell that it was probably one of surprise and most likely, terror.

Abel didn’t even give them a chance to get away as he struck out with one of his wings and grabbed the attacker around their small torso, using the other wing to knock the knife out of their grip.

“You really think you can beat me punk?” Abel sneered at his attacker. “What do you take me for, some kinda chump? Now, let’s get a good look at you.” Abel used his wing to pull them into the light.

His eyes widened slightly.

_‘Are you for real right now, another kid?!’_  Abel was completely and utterly shocked. Struggling in his grasp was yet another child, face obscured by a dirty, gray cloth that was wrapped completely around their head. Dirty, bandaged wrapped hands clawed against his wing and tried to pull out his feathers. It stung, but it wasn’t enough to deter him.

“Put me down…” The child calmly said, voice not giving anything away.

“And why should I do that? You’re just gonna scamper off and grab your knife again.” Abel simply stated with a frown. His mind was still trying to process the fact that this was actually the third child he’d seen. Where the hell were all these kids coming from? It would’ve been different if it was just the one, but three?

“Put me down!” The child hissed again in a louder tone. The voice was still muffled slightly by the headscarf, but it sounded female.

“Kid, I’m not putting ya down until I get some answers outta you.” Abel lightly snapped. “Now stop squirming around.” He said in a stern tone.

The kid froze in his grasp. Good, maybe now they were going to be willing to talk to him. He lowered his wing slightly to try and get a better look, and noticed a few more distinct features. The torn up plain black leggings and plain black flats, knicks and cuts dotted her legs. Abel then noticed the deep purple dress, plain and ripped slightly at the hem but it still looked as though it was cared for even with all the dirt.

“Now, what are you-” Abel was suddenly cut off when the girl gave his wing a good, hard kick. The toon dropped her out of shock, and the girl swiftly rolled and picked up her knife, disappearing into the shadows of the alley.

The angel grimaced and reached out a hand, as if to try and stop her. “Kid, I’m warning you-”

The girl turned her scarf covered head back towards him for a split moment, “I don’t know what they saw in you, you’re just like every other adult.” She hissed in a quiet but stern voice, and with that, silence followed. Abel could only stare at her in mild shock before she quickly turned on her heel and sprinted towards the front of the alley. The angel snapped out of his trance and quickly pursued her, he was going to get those answers, damn it.

But by the time he reached the front of the alley, the little girl was already gone.

_‘Well, would you look at that? A girl probably no older than seven just gave me the slip.’_ Abel bitterly thought to himself.

“Tch. At least she could fight, maybe she’ll do better.” He sighed to himself.

_‘But all of these kids… where are they coming from?’_  Abel pondered as he scratched his head.

_‘Still, I hope she figures out that she needs to get out of Toon Town. It just ain’t safe…’_

* * *

_‘That kid was scrappy, Bendy probably woulda liked her.’_  He chuckled to himself, the alcohol making his cheeks feel warm in comparison to the slight, chilly breeze.

He passed a crowded, low brow bar, filled with drunken revelers. He winced at the noise, it was far too loud now that he was really starting to feel his drinks kick into his system. He just wanted to crawl into his bed and block out the world.

It would be better than thinking about all those damn kids.

He walked on, cigar almost out, he fiddled around in his hammerspace to pull out another and his lighter when it happened.

His eyes widened when he heard a high pitched, childlike scream.


	4. Broken Glass

The cigar dropped to the ground as Abel quickly turned his head to the source of the scream.

The pitch and tone of it sounded like it came from a little girl, but it was quickly drowned out by other uproars, mostly slurred shouting and glass smashing, which meant that something was most definitely happening at the bar, probably a drunk confrontation of sorts.

Usually Abel would have just walked on but there was no way he was leaving if there was a kid involved, and with the alcohol still running in his system, he was almost raring for a fight. So with that, he quickly dashed in the direction of the noise, hoping to get there before something terrible happened.

A swirl of thoughts and emotions ran through his mind as he sprinted towards the bar. That scream…it sounded familiar, but why? It definitely sounded as though it came from a child, but he didn’t really know any toon children-

The angel’s eyes widened.

_‘Shit…Oh shit…!’_ Abel could really feel the panic start to settle in now, the effects of the alcohol only amplifying it.  _‘No, it couldn’t be that kid again. Why the Hell has she not left yet?! Shit…!’_

The sudden panic gave the toon a short burst of adrenaline, spurring him to spread his enormous wings and take flight into the cold, silent night. Being up in the air was absolutely freezing, but at least he would cover the distance faster.

It didn’t take long before he found the source of all the commotion.

Abel slowed to a stop and hovered in place as he saw what seemed to be some kind of small group of toons, huddled around something, or rather, they were trying to gang up on it. Abel was pretty far away and the alcohol in his system made his vision a tad bit blurry, so he had to narrow his eyes and squint as he could barely make out the shapes down below him.

There were four toons altogether, all of which were completely drunk as they staggered and shouted with slurred tones. The group was made up of an array of toon animals; a tall grey wolf with a full suit and tie, although the way the outfit was sloppily worn showed that he cared nothing about appearance.

There was also two identical twin midnight blue bats, with enormous fan-like ears and small webbed wings protruding out of their shirts, the two were leaning against each other for support as they struggled to even stand properly.

The last member of the wannabe gang was a small female black cat, who seemed to be the only one sober enough to stand, although like the wolf, her suit was worn very messily, with the sleeves rolled up and the hem of her white shirt untucked.   

The group were smashing beer bottles against the concrete ground as they shouted and swore at whatever they were huddled around, that would have explained the crashing sound he had heard earlier.

But what about the scream?

“Get away from us!” A young panicked voice shouted out, completely snapping Abel from his thoughts. The angel grimaced as he still couldn’t quite make out what the group of toons were huddled around, and hovered ever so slightly closer to the small mob so that he could get a better look at what was going on.

But he stopped when the cat seemed to double over in pain as she clutched her stomach, and three small figures darted out from the enclosing pack of toons, and sped towards an open plaza. Abel’s eyes widened once he got a closer look.

_‘No…it can’t be them…not here…not now…!’_  Abel could feel himself starting to panic slightly.

The three human children that he had encountered a few weeks back were currently speeding through the plaza, going as fast as their little legs could go, with the gang of toons hot on their tails. The Muslim girl, who seemed to be the oldest of the trio, had the the little African boy and Latinx girl by their hands, and was practically dragging them along behind her as she tore down the open plaza, heading towards what seemed to be some kind of small tunnel.

_‘Wh…What the hell? Those kids are together?’_  The Angel didn’t have much time to ponder though, as a gruff shout caught his attention.

“Get back here, ya li’l human bastards! We ain’t done with ye’ yet!” The wolf roughly barked as he sprinted after the kids, with the bats and cat not too far behind him.

“Yeah! Get ‘em boss!” The cat gleefully shouted out, waving her fist in the air in a drunken manner.

As quick as the children were, the toons were much, much faster.

It wasn’t long before the wolf caught up with them, and reached out to grab the smallest one first, the silent little Latinx girl. But the other girl was quick to react as she pulled the little one away and completely blocked the girl with her own body, resulting in her getting grabbed in the process.

The wolf seized the Muslim girl roughly by the shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

“Now, now little girly… “ The wolf drunkenly teased. “Ain’t no need to be runnin’ off now…”

The girl struggled against his grasp as she clawed at his hand and tried to pull away, before shouting back to the other two children, who had also stopped running to stare back in fear.

“Guys! You gotta run!” The girl cried out to them. They both took a hesitant step back, but didn’t move any further. The two bats and cat smirked as they finally caught up.

“B-but…” The little boy stuttered, while the little Latinx girl mutely grabbed onto his arm as she stared at the group of toons from underneath her bangs of red-brown hair. The oldest girl shook her head and yelled at them again.

“Run! Now!”

“Nah, nah, nah…I don’t think so girly. Ain’t none of y’all gettin’ away.” The wolf slurred as the other three toons circled around the children once again.

_‘No…’_  Abel could feel his temper starting to flare up as he watched the whole exchange from above.

“Now…let’s get back down ta’ business.” The wolf raised his fist.

_‘No!’_

Abel quickly dived down and kicked the wolf as he landed down on top of him, completely taking the toon by surprise, forcing him to let the girl go. Spreading his wings, the angel quickly used them as fists to punch one of the bats and the cat, allowing the other two children an opening to get away.

“What the- Who the hell are you!” The other bat snarled as he helped his sibling up from the ground.  Abel swiftly landed in front of the human children and spread out his enormous wings to block them from the gang’s view. 

The little Muslim girl scrambled back with a mixture of surprise and horror on her face, while the other two looked up at him in amazement. Abel turned his head to face them for a split moment while the other group struggled to recover from the attack.

“You kids get outta here while ya still can, I’ll hold these punks off” Abel ordered in a stern voice, resulting in the oldest girl giving him a dirty look.

“We don’t need your help-” The girl started before being cut off by a rough tug on the shoulder. She turned her head to see the boy shaking his head.

“Miriam, we should go. C’mon!” The boy almost pleaded. Abel mentally noted the name, he was probably going to have to get all of their names once this confrontation was over.

“Hey!” A gruff voice shouted, Abel quickly turned his head to face the source. The tall wolf looked as though he had somewhat recovered, even in his drunken state, and looked absolutely furious.

 “Ain’t nobody goin’ anywhere! Those little punks are ours,  now hand ‘em over ya lil’ pansy.” The wolf growled as the twin bats and cat slowly recovered and took their places by his side.

“I ain’t gonna tell ya again, kid. Get outta-” Abel turned his head again to scowl down at the children, only to find that the oldest girl had actually already grabbed the other two kids by the wrists and was running towards the small tunnel yet again.

Abel couldn’t help but smirk slightly.  _‘Glad they finally got the message.’_ He made note of the tunnel and turned back to the little gang. It was time for a fight.

Abel reached into his hammer space and nonchalantly pulled out ‘Mercy’, his brass knuckles, and slipped them onto his large wing, the small gang looked at him in slight surprise and glanced at each other for a moment, before rushing towards him. 

He took to the air and placed himself behind the bats who had yet to take flight, swooping down and throwing himself forward as he reached out and clocked the first upside the head and then swiftly into the other.

The cat readied her claws and jumped towards him but she was easily swatted into the wall with his wing, she struggled to get up from the ground for a moment before clumsily falling back down.

 The wolf stared at her prone form and then back at him, Abel simply smirked back, knowing that the wolf was probably trying to figure out his next move. The wolf then turned towards the tunnel and started charging his way over there.

Abel’s eyes widened.

_‘Shit! No!’_  He quickly reached into his hammer space and pulled out his gun before cocking it and firing off a shot just a mere centimetre away from the wolf’s feet. The wolf leapt into the air with a howl as the bullet bounced off the cobblestone, before turning back around to face him. Abel aimed his gun at him again.

“You better scram, pal. I don’t miss.”

“Well you didn’t hit me then.” The wolf sneered. Abel simply frowned and cocked his gun again, causing the wolf to flatten his ears.

“Boss, lets just get out of here.” One of the bats urged while helping up their twin. “The guy ain’t joking around.” The trembling in his voice was evident of the fear that Abel had put in them.

“Last warning punk. Scram or I shoot.” Abel growled. The wolf looked at the bats, the cat who was now hunched over on herself and leaning against the wall, and then back to Abel. The wolf nodded to the group, signalling for the bats and cat to start heading out of the plaza, before turning back to Abel.

“This ain’t over.” The wolf said, giving the angel a dirty look before following after his wounded pals. Abel watched them leave, making sure they were really giving up the fight before releasing a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He put his gun and his brass knuckles back in his hammerspace.

“Tch! ‘This ain’t over’” Abel mumbled in a mocking tone as he put his weapons away. “ That was barely even a fight, ya punk. It was over before it even began.” Abel spat. He had more pressing matters though, he quickly turned to the tunnel the kids had run down into. He had to make sure they were alright.

_‘And why the hell are those three still here anyway?!? And together no less? Why are these kids here…?’_  Abel put aside his thoughts for the time being as he ducked down into the tunnel. 

It was a bit difficult to squeeze himself into the small space though, as its walls forced him to push his wings back behind himself, and the darkness made him pause for a moment to pull out his lighter.

_‘Too damn dark in here…’_ The toon bitterly thought.

He carefully moved through the tunnel until he found himself in an open area, light from the street lamps pouring in from a small grate above, the area was spacious enough that he could finally stand up to his full height.

He looked around when his eyes spotted the long, brown trenchcoat that he’d bought the little boy a few weeks back, laying neatly folded on the end of a dirty broken mattress. A small broken desk somewhat submerged in water had assorted papers and what looked to be a pile of broken crayons. Moving closer he could make out a few messy drawings, he recalled the little boy had said the youngest girl had drawn them.

He looked closer at them, there was one of himself lying on top of the pile, which caused a small smirk to form on his lips. The next one under that was of the three children holding hands, making his smirk soften to a gentle smile.

The third drawing however, made his smile turn into a disturbed frown. It was of a cross, deep red with flames licking the sides. The final drawing under that wasn’t much better. Dark shadows, whose crudely drawn hands reached out towards him. He stared at it with a furrowed brow as he tried to make sense of the scribbles. The alcohol in his system was making it much harder to think it through, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted though, when he heard a tiny shuffling noise from behind him.

  The little Latinx girl, the first child that he had met, was poking her head out from the bricked wall of another tunnel, eyes still covered by her bangs, but he could still feel her intense stare. It was then that he noticed her trembling, ever so slightly.

The angel smiled slightly and knelt down where he was. The little girl continued to stare for a few moments before taking a few steps forward until her full body was in view, the poor thing still shaking ever so slightly. Just as Abel was about to speak up, the little boy came out as well, and stopped next to the little girl, gently tugging at her arm, as if to pull her back.

He was whispering something to the smallest one that Abel couldn’t make out, but when the toon’s wing twitched from the cold breeze and gently brushed up against the brick lined wall of the area, accidentally  knocking some pebbles into the standing water, the little boy quickly turned to face Abel with a small fearful gasp, his eyes as wide as saucers. 

Though, as soon as he recognised the angel, his body visibly relaxed slightly, green eyes watching Abel curiously as he slowly dropped the girl’s hand.

That was when the oldest girl, head covered in the gray cloth, much dirtier since Abel’s last encounter with her, quickly ran over from the tunnel and tried to usher the two back.

“Hey, hey it’s okay.” The toon held up his hands to show that he wasn’t a threat. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya, heck I just took a beating for ya.” Abel slurred, alcohol now fully in effect.

He was internally kicking himself but it wasn’t like he had known that he would be interacting with the kids again, it was just…coincidence, really. Besides, there was no way he was leaving them like this, as cold-hearted as he could be, he just didn’t have it in him.

Abel sighed and held out an open palm, trying to show that he was non-threatening to the group of children, although his arm did sway a little thanks to the booze taking full effect.

The oldest girl frowned at him heavily, watching his every movement with sharp eyes. The boy stood still and watched his movements as well, but more with curiosity than anything else. The youngest though, decided to run up towards him without seeming to give it any thought, but she immediately stopped in the middle between him and the other two children, and looked at him curiously for a moment.

“Nina, get back over here this instant!” The oldest, wait… Miriam, that was her name, hissed. The little one seemed to respond to the name as she looked back to the other two, before looking back to Abel, a perplexed expression on her face.

_‘So the smallest one is called Nina, huh? Damn if that ain’t a cute name.’_  The toon thought to himself as the little girl continued to look back and forth between them.

“Nina!” Miriam quietly shouted out again, the damp tunnels echoing out her voice. “I said get back! He’s dangerous…” She warned again, earning a small frown from the boy.

“Well…he’s not…that bad…actually…” The little boy mumbled before cringing slightly at the sudden glare that he received from the older girl.

“Khari…” Miriam warned in a bitter tone. “He’s one of them, of course we can’t trust him.”

“But-” The boy tried to retort before being sharply cut off by the girl.

“But nothing!” She quietly scolded, but as she was about to open her mouth to say more, a small sniffling sound caught everyone’s attention.

Abel looked back down to the youngest girl, Nina, and frowned as he noticed that she had started trembling while looking back and forth between him and the other two children, her confused expression was starting to show signs of fear as well.

The two older children, Miriam and Khari, solemnly watched her with guilty looks. They looked as though they were at a loss of what to do, and Abel couldn’t blame them. They were too young to be dealing with trust issues and living out on the streets, they all looked as though they had a pretty rough time of it.

He focused his attention back onto the sniffling Nina, before reaching out a hand to lay on her head, and softly stroked her frazzled hair. The little girl instantly froze at his touch, but seemed to ease into it a little as the toon sat himself closer to her, the action earning yet another glare from Miriam.

Abel had never really been one for comforting folk as he was so used to keeping up his tough guy reputation, but he could feel a few of his old instincts starting to kick in from when he worked with kids in the past. He couldn’t help but feel the need to help these children, plus the alcohol was probably making him feel pretty sentimental too.

“Hey.” The angel softly said to catch the youngest one’s attention. “There’s no need for tears, alright? It’s okay, kid.” He said as brushed a few of the red-brown bangs away from her eyes to wipe away any tears she might have had on her face.

Abel was pleasantly surprised to find what might have been the biggest and most beautiful pair of dark brown eyes he had ever seen, she almost had a doe-eyed look to her. He didn’t think it was possible for this kid to get any more adorable but boy was he wrong.

_‘Oh my god damn, she’s a cute li’l darlin’. Wait.’_  Abel had to narrow his eyes slightly to focus in on what seemed to be some sort of mark in between her eyes.  _‘What…what the hell…? It can’t be…’_

It was a small cross. It looked exactly like…

Abel looked at his hand for a brief moment, before looking back to the confused girl with a sullen expression. The mark was small and had a slightly pink look to it, like a recent burn, the angel could feel his temper rising.

The cross wasn’t just marked onto her, it had been _burned_  onto her skin.

Abel didn’t realise that he was literally shaking with anger until Nina took a step back, her eyes widened slightly. He looked over at the other two to see Miriam glaring fearfully at him while Khari had a worried look on his face. The toon sighed and forced himself to calm down, he couldn’t get mad in front of these kids, not now.

“Alright, that settles it.” The angel suddenly said as he rose to his feet, slightly startling all three children. “You kids are coming with me.”

Nina and Khari both looked at him with a slight curiousity while Miriam scoffed, “Excuse me?”

Abel grinned slightly. “Yeah, that’s right. I’m taking you all outta here and back to my place to get ya cleaned up and such.” His expression turned a little more stern. “But after that, you gotta get outta town, understand?”

The older girl gave him a dirty look, “And why should we trust you? You’re clearly drunk and after my last encounter with you, I think I’d rather go suck on a lemon than go anywhere with the likes of you.”

The angel sighed at this, she was right. The alcohol was clouding his judgement slightly and he had been pretty violent with her during their first encounter, even if it was only in self defense. But…he just…couldn’t leave them here.

“Look…” Abel started. “I know you might not like me, and I ain’t exactly the best role model, but…” The angel gave the girl a determined gaze. “You kids need to get better shelter, food, and clothes, ya can’t stay here, it’s a dump.” He said, motioning his hand around the damp, dirty tunnel to emphasise his point, before looking back at all three kids.

“The fact of the matter is…you can’t stay here. All I wanna do is get ya back on your feet, offer a few nights rest on something that ain’t cold and hard, and some food. But after that, you three gotta get outta town, alright?” He rubbed the back of his neck as all three children gave him bewildered looks.

“Look, I uh…I’ll call a friend up, he can bring ya some food and clean clothes or somethin’. You just…have to come with me.” He finally said, sighing slightly.

That was all he was able to offer, that was all he  _should_ offer. If he was caught with these kids, the reputation that he had worked so hard to uphold would shatter in an instant, and he couldn’t risk that. But…if he could offer some kind of help…

Abel’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard the pitter patter of bare feet on the cold stone, and looked down to see that the youngest one, Nina, was picking up a few of her broken crayons. Khari watched her curiously while Miriam looked completely gobsmacked.

“N-Nina! What are you doing?” Miriam asked in a worried tone, the little girl simply looked up to her before continuing. The older girl frowned in an annoyed manner.

“Don’t ignore me and put those down right now! We’re not going with him-” She stopped mid-sentence when Khari walked over to the musty old mattress and picked up the trench coat that was draped over it, before moving to Abel’s side.

“Khari…come back over here…” Her demanding tone slipped into one of uncertainty as she continued to watch Nina pick up her crayons and drawings, before taking a few steps back.

“Miriam, he’s right.” The boy stated. “We’re always scrounging around for food, we’re constantly freezing…we…we need this, even if it’s only for a few nights. Please.” Khari said with a sullen expression while Nina bundled up her art supplies into her small, bare arms.

Miriam looked down but didn’t reply. Abel finally decided to step in to help make up her mind.

“You want what’s best for these guys, right? I can tell how much ya care for ‘em.” The toon said with a smile, the older girl still remained silent.

“It’s just for a few nights, you’ll all get fed and a warm place to sleep. C’mon, it ain’t a bad deal, really.” This finally seemed to get a reaction from the girl, as she suddenly walked up to him with her arms crossed before looking him dead in the eyes.

“Fine. But only because they need this.” And with that, she stormed off ahead of them towards the exit of the tunnel, with the other two following close behind, leaving Abel to gather his thoughts for a moment.

“Well…guess I got a phone call to make…”

Abel took one last glance around the dark, murky tunnel before he swiftly turned and followed the children towards the exit, he wasn’t really sure what to expect from the next few days.

All that he knew was that he was not prepared.


	5. Take A Lift

Abel closed his eyes as the cool, the night breeze ruffled the feathers of his wings and sent a small chill down his spine.

The angel ran a gloved hand down his face in a small attempt to keep himself awake, he just felt so god damn exhausted. The alcohol that still lingered in his system wasn’t helping either as he struggled slightly to even walk properly, resulting in him nearly tripping up a few times.

_‘Ugh…just gotta get me to bed…forget about everything…’_  The mere thought of sleep was absolute bliss, he couldn’t wait to just drift away from everything, even if it was only for a little while.

After walking down a few more blocks, he finally reached his location, the toon smiled up at the tall skyscraper, he was finally home…

The building was slightly decrepit but folk still managed to live inside, the stone walls were clearly aged and small sections were even crumbling a little, but structure-wise it was still sturdy enough.The small square windows that lined the skyscraper were dull and showed no signs of life inside. Of course, it was the middle of the night, the residents must have still been asleep.

_‘Should probably try and stay quiet…’_  The angel thought to himself.  _‘Don’t wanna draw any attention to myself.’_

He had already done plenty of that lately.

Abel put a hand to his face once more as he tried to put his fuzzy thoughts together. He was sure that something had happened, but he couldn’t quite figure out what exactly.

_‘Ah…probably just got into another fight or somethin’…the usual…’_ He casually thought as he waved a dismissive hand at nobody in particular. It was a pretty good thing the streets were completely empty, otherwise he would’ve been getting some pretty strange looks.

A subtle wave of nausea suddenly hit him, forcing him to curl his hand into a small fist and bring it up to his mouth in a small attempt to calm it down. There was no denying it anymore, he loved to drink but by God he was not good at holding it steady.

Once the angel felt relatively alright, he looked up the building and unevenly spread out his large wings.

_‘Aight…all I gotta do…is…is get up to the top…without cra…crashing’_  The words slurred in his mind before a huge smirk spread across his face.

_‘Piece a’ cake.’_

With a powerful beat of his wings, the toon launched himself up into the air. Despite the still lingering alcohol in his system, he just about managed to keep himself in the air without crashing into the stone building. Within a few high-powered flaps of his enormous wings, he reached the top of the building within just a few moments, and gently hovered to the ground, only stumbling a little when he finally landed.

“Alright!” Abel praised. “I didn’t even sm…smack into the building once! That’s gotta be a new record…!” He drunkenly exclaimed to himself, before setting his sights on his home.

Abel didn’t necessarily live in one of the apartments like the rest of his ‘neighbours’, he detested the idea of living in a small cramped space, surrounded by other folk. No, he much preferred his own company, which was why this place was perfect.

Very few of the local residents even knew of the small derelict extension that was on the roof of the building, and Abel had only stumbled upon it by accident, but after a quick investigation of finding that it was pretty much abandoned, he had decided to clean it up a bit and settle down. It was still pretty shabby but it did it’s job, and damn he couldn’t deny that view.

The toon strolled to the edge of the roof, only stumbling ever so slightly, and lazily shoved his hands into his pockets as he admired the birds eye view of Toon Town. The street lamps that were dotted about town brilliantly shined against the dark tint of blue of the night sky, which was contrasted by the distant sounds of the loud blaring of sirens and what sounded like the drunken shouting of yet another street brawl. Abel couldn’t help but chuckle, he was glad he could just admire the view and not get involved.

His amused thoughts were abruptly interrupted though, as the sounds of the fighting suddenly gave him a sense of some sort of Déjà vu. The angel narrowed his eyes slightly and blinked for a few moments.

He felt like he was forgetting something.

Abel put a finger to his chin as he tried to think, the fact that his mind was still a little fuzzy from the alcohol didn’t help in the slightest, he honestly couldn’t really remember much of what had happened tonight. The angel rubbed his temples in frustration as he forced himself to concentrate, he was  _sure_  that something had happened. Normally he would have just shrugged it off , go to bed and hope that he would remember in the morning but…this felt… important, somehow.

“…C’mon, let’s just go. He’s not coming back down.” A quiet but commanding voice from below suddenly caught his attention. It sounded young, but he recognised it.

“But shouldn’t we wait? Maybe he just needed to get something…?” Another voice timidly suggested, this one sounded even younger, clearly a boy.

Why the Hell did they sound so familiar?

“No.” The first voice sharply said. “He’s toying with us, he’s probably on the phone to like, the police or something, so we gotta go. C’mon Nina.”

_'Wait. That name…Nina.’_  Abel could feel his thoughts slowly come back together, he was in a fight and…

_’…Shit, the kids!’_

He quickly leaned over the edge of the roof and frantically tried to look for the source of the children’s voices, his eyes widening when he finally saw them. The oldest girl, who was clearly in charge of the group, was hastily leading the other two away. The boy looked a tad bit hesitant while the youngest one, Nina, kept pointing towards the skyscraper in what seemed to be a silent beg to go back.

The sight made Abel cringe slightly, he felt a little ashamed that he had allowed himself to get so drunk that he had forgotten about them so quickly, especially after he had spent so long trying to earn just a shred of their trust. But he was determined to make up for it, he had to stop them and get them back to his apartment quickly and quietly before any other toons spotted them and made a scene.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the angel stepped off the edge of the roof and spread open his massive wings to gently glide down to the streets below. Unfortunately the night air was pretty still, and with no wind current to ride upon, he was forced to flap his wings furiously to stop himself from completely falling.

The loud noise and constant swearing seemed to alert the three children, as they quickly turned around with a mixture of emotions spread across their faces. Both the youngest girl and the boy looked both glad to see him, although it was mixed with a little caution. The oldest girl however, had a look of sheer panic on her face as she put herself in front of the other two and pushed them behind her.

All three of them cringed as Abel made a pretty ungraceful landing.

“Shit that hurt…” Abel rubbed at his face as he stood up. “Now… where do you think you three are going, huh? Need ta get ya safe.” His words slurred thickly as he stood up swaying. The Muslim girl narrowed her eyes in disgust, making sure that the other two were kept behind her.

“Safe. With you. In this state.” She looked him up and down for a moment. “What a load of crap.” Miriam spat at him.

“Miri…” Khari said quietly. The girl snapped her head towards him and glared harshly.

“You see the state he’s in!” She motioned with her hands violently. “He’s in no state to do anything with us, he can barely handle himself as it is.”

As the two older kids bickered with each other, Nina had come up quietly to Abel and tugged at his shirt. The angel blinked for a moment before he bent over to see what she wanted, his eyes widened slightly as she carefully patted at his now bruised cheek and motioned with her hands to be picked up.

Abel was a bit surprised at how quickly she’d begun to trust him, but didn’t question it too far, knowing that trust was hard to give when you’ve lived on the streets for so long. After just a few more moments of arguing, Miriam finally turned back to face Abel, only to find Nina in his arms.

“You put her down, right now.” The girl quietly threatened. The angel raised a small brow and glanced at Nina, who seemed quite content, before looking back down to both Miriam and Khari. He really needed to get them back up to his home before anyone noticed…

“Look.” Abel started. “I know I am not in a great state right now. But as soon as we get to my place, we’ll hole up for the night, alright?” He sighed rubbing his hand a bit wildly down his face, how was it that he could handle entire gangs of mobsters but three children were giving him trouble?

“Well it seems that you live all the way up there.” Miriam pointed up towards the room before looking back to Abel with a somewhat stern expression. “I assume we will be taking the elevator, because there’s no way that I’m climbing any staircases. And don’t you think for one moment that I won’t turn right around with these two to go back to that tunnel, because at least it was defendable.” Miriam ranted on, her voice getting a little too loud.

“Kid…ya need to quiet down.” Abel drawled out as he rubbed at his head.

“Oh that’s right because you have a headache, you drunkard.” The older girl stated with a small smirk.

“One, that was a rather big word for you.” He immediately sassed back, resulting in her smirk turning into an annoyed frown as she huffed and stamped her foot in response. From the corner of his eye, he could see Khari trying to hold back a stifled chuckle from behind her, and Nina smiled a little sheepishly. Abel couldn’t help but feel just a little bit smug.

“…And two, no, because it’s late and if anyone else spots you three it’s gonna get messy. So, let’s get to my place.  _Quietly_.” He huffed out. Khari tugged at Miriam’s sleeve catching her attention, and gave her a look that Abel was too drunk to exactly place. After a few moments, she tugged her arm away and rolled her eyes.

“ _Fine_.” Miriam finally hissed.

“Good. So, who’s first?” Abel prompted.

“…Wait, what?” Miriam gave him a look of both confusion and concern, Khari and even Nina mimicked her expression.

“Who’s first? Gotta fly you three up.” He said nonchalantly.

“No.” Miriam simply stated with a blank look. Khari began to raise his hand before it was immediately slapped down by Miriam. “No flying.”

“You want to go first?” Abel looked down to Nina who was still in his arms. A small smile was beginning to form on the little girl’s face.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” And without a moment’s hesitation,he launched the two of them up into the air, the sound of Miriam shouting after them was quickly faded out by the sudden rush of wind. This time, because of his precious cargo, he was a bit more careful of the buildings. Not that it still wasn’t a close call a few times.

Finally landing on the balcony, with a lot more grace than before, he set the youngest of the three down. Or…at least he tried to. The little girl was still clutching his shirt in a tight, almost death-like grip. Although he couldn’t really read the expression in her eyes since they were still covered by locks of crimson hair, Abel could still tell by her body language that she was pretty damn spooked.

The toon cringed a little, maybe he should have given her a little more warning…

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s alright.” He coaxed in a gentle voice. “I didn’t mean to frighten ya. We’ve landed, see?” He said as he tried to calm her, but to no avail as Nina still clung very tightly to him.

“Here let’s get you inside really quick, I’ll have the other two up in a moment, but let’s get you settled down, okay?” His brow furrowed as he felt her begin to vibrate slightly.

_'Ah damn, poor kid’s trembling…’_  He realized with a sudden stroke of clarity in his otherwise liquor addled brain.

“Ssshhh, hey it’s okay…” He sighed out as he started rubbing small circles on her back in an attempt to calm the child down. She started to ease up slightly and after a few stretched out moments, she finally lifted her head to peek up at him. The angel gave a small, reassuring smile in return.

“See? You’re fine.” Abel said with a wink and a more confident tone. “Yer a tough li’l gal, ain’tcha?” Nina’s trembling had died down, and her mouth twitched upwards slightly but she still clung on. Abel couldn’t help but start to get a bit impatient, he had to get the other two up here before anyone saw them.

But he had to be tactful about this, she was just a little kid after all.

“Look.” He started as he took her small wrists and gently pulled her hands away from his shirt, forcing the little girl to let go. “I need to go get those other two before something happens to 'em, so I’m gonna leave ya here for a moment, ok? Then we’ll get inside and get you all cleaned up, how does that sound?” The latinx girl replied with a wide smile and an enthusiastic nod.

“Attagirl.” He gave her hands a small reassuring squeeze before standing up and stretching his wings to take flight again, and as he landed back onto the street, a very livid Miriam stormed up to him with Khari trying to hold her back. Normally Abel would have been pretty amused at such a sight, but he couldn’t afford to have a scene.

“How dare you!” The girl practically shouted with a face of thunder. “If you hurt her…”

Abel held up a hand. “Just calm down, kid. I only took her up to the roof, she’s fine. But y’know it’s pretty chilly up there, and the longer this takes the colder she’s gonna get. So…” He drawled with a small shrug, resulting in another furious reaction.

“You just  _left_  her with no protection?! She’s going to catch her death up there!” Miriam’s angry expression was quickly replaced with one of panic and concern, even the boy looked worried. Abel inwardly smirked, his plan was working.

He still felt guilty as Hell but this was the only way to get them up there as quickly as possible.

“Well.” The angel started. “The sooner I get you both up there, the sooner she’ll get warmed up in the house, it’s as simple as that.”

At that, Khari took a timid step forward, only to be stopped immediately by a silent Miriam as she held up her arm to prevent him from going any further, all the while never taking her narrowed gaze away from Abel.

“Oh, come on. You’re not afraid of heights, are ya?” The toon teased with a small smirk, which soon changed into a nervous grin as the young girl’s gaze turned into a full blown glare. He cleared his throat, maybe sarcasm wasn’t the best way to approach this. He was going to have to try something else.

“Look missy.” He stated with a much more serious tone, catching both children’s attention. “I promise that you’ll all be safe with me, but if ya stay down here, you’re gonna be in grave danger. Do you understand that?” Miriam seethed.

“Of course I do!” She snapped in a quieter tone. Abel knelt down and looked at them both in the eyes, any traces of his drunken demeanour seemed to have completely disappeared.

“Then you’ll stop giving me a hard time.”

The girl opened her mouth to immediately retaliate, but no sound came from her mouth. Khari looked between them nervously as they stared eachother down for what seemed like an eternity before Miriam finally sighed.

“…Fine.” She simply said, dropping her arm to let Khari past. “Let him go first though.” The boy frowned.

“No Miri…you should go-” He blinked in surprise as he was cut off by a sharp look from the older girl. He silently nodded and slowly made his way to Abel, who carefully but quickly picked him up, before spreading his wings.

“I won’t be long.” The angel tried to reassure, earning him a curt shrug.

He frowned a little before taking off with the second child, managing to climb the wind currents with ease before reaching the top. As he landed and let Khari down, Nina practically threw herself at the little african boy, who hugged her tightly in return.

“You ok Nini?” He asked, to which the little girl nodded enthusiastically.

_‘Nini?’_  Abel rose an eyebrow. _‘Weird nickname…heh, kinda cute though.’_

He couldn’t afford to dwell on it though and dived back down the skyscraper again to pick up the final kid, he only hoped that she wouldn’t give him too much trouble, he just wanted to get inside now.

He landed in front of Miriam, who had her arms crossed, and gave her an expectant look.

“Alright, come on.” He simply said while holding out his arms. She narrowed her eyes slightly as something flashed across her face, it was a quick, subtle flicker but Abel knew what that expression was: fear.

“You’ll be fine, I promise.” He said in a softer tone, Miriam huffed back.

“Just get it over with.” She bluntly said before making her way over, finally allowing Abel to pick her up. She immediately tensed up at the contact, and from the corner of his eye he noticed her right hand twitching slightly.

_‘Damn she’s not gonna go for her knife again, is she?’_  He kept a close eye on her as her hand stopped shaking, she flexed it slightly before glaring back up at him.

“What are you waiting for? Get moving before we get caught or something.” The girl said in a demanding tone. Abel frowned slightly but said nothing as he prepared to take off.

“Hang on.” And with that, he took off from the ground for the last time, and made his way up to the top of the building once again, landing with a little more grace than the last few times. Miriam wasted no time in pushing herself off of him, stumbling slightly as she landed roughly onto the roof, before dashing towards Nina and Khari.

“Hey!” Abel shouted at the sudden push as he was nearly thrown off balance, forcing him to use his wings to stop himself from completely falling over. Miriam didn’t even spare him a glance as she checked over the other two children. He couldn’t help but glare as he brushed himself off.

_‘Typical. No apology or nothin’. Kid nearly broke my damn wing…’_ The toon angrily thought as he ran a gloved hand through his hair. His expression softened slightly though, as he watched Miriam fawn over Nina and Khari until she was satisfied that they were alright.

_‘Damn…’_  Abel couldn’t help but sympathize.  _‘Ain’t that a sight for sore eyes.’_  The angel couldn’t help but frown as he kept watching them.  _‘But how did they end up like this? Where are their parents? That cross on the little girl’s forehead….it couldn’t be…’_

“Hey.” A sharp voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked back over to them to see that they were all staring at him. Miriam spoke up again, “Are you taking us inside or not? It’s freezing out here.” She said as she wrapped her arms around both Nina and Khari in a small attempt to share a little body heat.

“…Yeah” Abel simply said as he walked towards his apartment, gesturing for the children to follow. He was just going to have to push those thoughts aside for now. “Let’s get you three inside. Warm up and stuff so none of ya catch a cold.” The angel sighed, ready to simply flop down onto his bed.

As the three children cautiously made their way over, Abel unlocked the dilapidated door and with a bit of force, it opened with a loud squeaky creak. A musty scent wafted from inside the dark apartment, making the trio scrunch up their noses slightly. The scent of home was a welcome smell to Abel though, he sighed in relief and made his way inside, flipping a switch on the way.

Light suddenly filled the apartment, revealing its contents. The space was small but roomy enough for at least a few people to live in, the walls and floors were covered in oak panels, with a few small wooden boxes dotted about the room. The most noticeable furniture was what appeared to be an old, worn out couch that looked like it had seen better days, and a large bed at the far side of the room which was completely covered in cushions and pillows.

Light coloured curtains were draped over the window next to the bed, with little blue and white lights hanging above to illuminate the sleeping area. A large and intricately designed dreamcatcher also hung above the bed, little fluffy feathers completing the object.

The apartment was also filled with an absurd amount of books.

“You like reading?” Miriam asked with a subtle sneer. Abel gave her an unamused look.

“Yeah. You got a problem with that?” He retorted in a flat tone.

The girl gave him an annoyed look but said nothing more as she returned her focus to Nina, who had made a head start on exploring every nook and cranny of the apartment, her expression a mix of both curiosity and excitement. The young boy, Khari, had also taken the liberty of having a look around, although he was much more restrained and calm about it.

“So  _this_  is where you live.” Miriam commented as she looked around in slight disdain. Abel could feel himself getting impatient again.

“I know it ain’t much but…hey it’s hell of a lot better than that dump you guys were living in, right?” He said as he rummaged through a box. The older girl crossed her arms and mumbled.

“I’m beginning to wonder…”

The toon sighed, “I’m not even gonna dignify that with a response, kid.”

“You just did.”

“Alright!” Abel suddenly clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he changed the subject, catching all three of the children’s attention in the process. “I have something I gotta do real quick so uh…feel free to look around. Just…don’t break anything” With that, he quickly slipped away into the kitchen and reached for the phone before punching in some numbers.

“Come on…Come on…” Abel muttered as the phone rang out before a familiar voice finally answered him.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey, it’s me. Look, I don’t have time to explain. But I need your help with something-”

_“Woah, woah, woah.”_  The voice interrupted.  _“Abel? Look, just calm down. What’s wrong? You’re not in trouble are you?”_

“Eh…kinda…?” Look, I just need ya to come over, and bring some supplies with ya as well? Like food and clothes, uh…kid size clothes…preferably…?” The angel asked in a sheepish manner.

There was silence on the other end for a moment.

_“…Kid size?”_

“…Yeah.”

_“Abel…”_

“Look. Please, I’m begging ya. I’ll explain everything when ya get here.”

A sigh. _“Fine. But it’ll have to be first thing in the morning. And I want a full explanation, Abel. No excuses.”_

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks, I owe ya one.”

_“I think you owe me a little more than that.”_  The voice teased lightly, making the toon smirk slightly.

“Aight, ya don’t need to remind me. But thanks again.”

_“I’ll bring what I can, see you in the morning, Abel.”_

“Ciao.” As he put the phone down, a voice suddenly piped up from behind, making the poor angel jump.

“So who was that?” Miriam asked with crossed arms. Abel sighed deeply in relief and relaxed himself, how did she manage to keep so damn quiet?

_‘Christ, that girl needs to wear a bell or something.’_  He bitterly thought.

“Just a friend.” He replied with a small smile. “He’s coming in the morning with fresh supplies and clothes for ya.”

“Hm.” She looked him up and down with narrowed eyes, as if she was silently judging him, before turning to go back to the other two kids, leaving Abel slightly dumbfounded. He shook his head and followed her back into the main room. God he was desperate to get some sleep.

“Alright guys.” The toon started as he entered the room. “My friend’s coming over in the morning to get ya properly fed and cleaned up, so in the meantime…let’s see what’s in the fridge, eh?”

Miriam scoffed while Khari and Nina looked at each other. “So you don’t even have any proper food right now?”

“Sorry kid. But I don’t exactly live in a lap of luxury. But don’t worry, I’ll get ya…something…”

After a small meal, Abel was desperate to finally get to sleep. But of course, there was still a small problem.

“Where uh…where do we sleep, mister?” Khari timidly asked as he looked around the room.

“The bed of course kid. All three of you.” Abel turned to drag out a blanket from under the bed. Turning back to the kids they simply stared at him. “What did you think I was going to make you sleep on the floor? Give me a little credit kid.” He sighed. He internally debated throwing on some pajamas before deciding that he didn’t even care anymore what he slept in as long as he slept.

“But-” Khari started.

“No. Just hop into the bed. We all need some sleep. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” Abel yawned widely which caused the three children in turn to yawn. Nina, first and the widest, Khari a slowly covered yawn, and Miriam quickly covering her mouth to hide how exhausted she was.

‘Besides he’s just going to ask me a million questions. I’m gonna need all the sleep I can get.’ He thought to himself.

“Alright if you say so…” Khari mumbled, quietly shuffling to the bed with Nina in pursuit.

“I don’t want to use your bed, it’ll smell like you, like booze.” Miriam hissed at him as he kicked off his shoes, scrunching up his solid foot and stretching it out again.

“Kid, a bed is a bed. Either sleep on it or don’t. I don’t care at this point. Just. It’s somewhere safe right? And looks like the other two are fast asleep now.” He tilted his head in the direction of the bed, both children out like a light already as soon as they had hit the pillows. Nina curled into Khari’s chest who had an arm over her. “So, you might as well join them, or the floor.” He sighed. Miriam said nothing as she stalked over to the bed, kicking her shoes off and climbing under the covers. A yawn that she could not hide stretched out of her mouth before she too succumbed to sleep.

With that, Abel drew the blinds and shut off the light, his feet shuffled him to the couch and he threw a blanket over top himself, facing into the cushions of the couch so that his wings cascaded onto the floor as he stretched out. A finally lazy thought fluttered through his head as his eyelids did the same before sleep overtook him.

_‘What the hell am I even doing with my life?’_


End file.
